With his ginger hair and pale Scottish complexion, Birmingham's new boss Alex McLeish could hardly look less like Jose Mourinho.

But City's former Chelsea star Mikael Forssell has played for both men and insists the pair have an awful lot in common.

Finland striker Forssell and the rest of the Blues squad have been hugely impressed by McLeish's thorough preparations since joining from Scotland's national team.

According to Forssell, what McLeish appears to lack in the glamour stakes compared to Chelsea's old boss Mourinho, he more than makes up for in his similar attention to detail.

And after Big Eck's encouraging haul of four points from three games following his first home game at St Andrews, Forssell believes Blues may well have recruited their very own Special One.

"McLeish does remind me of Mourinho," said Forssell, who quit Stamford Bridge for Birmingham in June 2005 in a £3million deal after two successful loan spells. "I played under Mourinho who worked very much on tactics and believed in working as a team when we defended and looking at videos of how other teams play.

"That is what we are doing now under McLeish. We try to cover everything so when the Saturday comes it is up to us as players."

Forssell scored his third goal of the season from a corner to repay McLeish's confidence in him after former boss Steve Bruce repeatedly left him on the bench due to fitness concerns.

But the hit-man insists he is fully fit after a catalogue of knee problems and believes he is benefiting from McLeish's more adventurous tactics.

"I have been feeling really good since last season - it was purely down to Steve Bruce that I haven't been playing," he said. "But the new manager encouraged us to attack more. We used to go into games to keep it 0-0 and then if we made a mistake we had to chase the game but now we seem to be seizing the initiative more.

"I am all about attacking and going forward and causing teams problems so that helps my game."

Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt scored from the spot to level after the break when both sides might have snatched a winner.

The result left the visitors still searching for their first away win this term but Hunt is not concerned.

"Talk of second-season syndrome is b******s," he said. "If we could pick up a few more away wins everything would be fine."